Category: Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation

Pat Meehan Tells Side, Does Hallmark Movie Loom? — Congressman Pat Meehan (R-Pa7) has told his side of the story to the Delaware County Daily Times, which was published Jan. 23 and is now accessible on the web.

Meehan was accused of sexually harassing an aide in a story reported by The New York Times, Jan. 20, and that he used tax money to make her go away.

Meehan, according to the Delco Times, said that that he had worked with the aide for years and that she had become his gatekeeper in Washington. When she failed to come to a 2016 Christmas party at his home, he was disappointed, then asked himself why he was disappointed and discovered that he had developed feelings for the aide.

Meehan said he took her out for some ice cream on April 28 and told her that he developed “affection” for her that he was struggling with.

“This was a significant thing to me, that she would be leaving, and also that I was also struggling with the fact that during our close personal relationship, I had grown admittedly some affection and that affection was something that I was struggling with, so that I would not allow it to get into the middle of our working relationship,” Meehan told the Times. “I go to Mass first thing in the morning and I kind of laughed and said, ‘A lot of times I’m praying to make sense of what’s going on down here in Washington, D.C., but from time to time making sure I am able to keep myself straight and focused on what I am doing.’ But I also wanted to communicate that that struggle was going on and it was sort of impacting some of the regular activity that we had before, that I had stepped back a little bit, because I thought that was important for me to not allow this emotion to get into our normal working relationship.”

Meehan said that a few days later the aide asked for a lot of money, then invoked the Congressional Accountability Act, then left getting the money.

Hey Pat, has the Hallmark Channel called yet? Make sure you get a nice cut for the rights to the story. You certainly don’t want to have to move back to Drexel Hill.

On a serious note, adults should be able to handle this sort of thing without major media or outside advocates getting involved and money exchanging hands. Meehan did not — according to any report –touch her, nor expose himself, nor verbally abuse her nor do any of the twisted things that now appears SOP by our political/journalistic/academic/entertainment leaders.

Pat actually should get away with this.

Meehan says he is not resigning and is planning on seeking re-election.

On Jan. 22, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an opinion striking down the Congressional districts adopted in 2011. The decision requires that new districts be adopted by the General Assembly and approved by the Governor by Feb. 15. If new Congressional districts are not adopted by that time, the Supreme Court will establish new districts. (Why the plaintiffs waited six years to bring the lawsuit is open for discussion. However, a cynic would note that it coincided nicely with Democrats obtaining a majority on the Supreme Court.)

The timeline of the case or even the timeline required for the adoption of new districts is not the biggest problem. What is most concerning is the Court’s threat to adopt districts it devises should its timeline not be met by the legislature. Nowhere in the Pennsylvania Constitution is the Judiciary delegated the responsibility of creating legislative districts. The power to create Congressional districts is reserved for the General Assembly. The Judiciary may invalidate the General Assembly’s districts and require new maps to be drawn. The Supreme Court’s threat to create and adopt its own maps represents a dangerous departure from the separation of powers.

Make no mistake, some of Pennsylvania’s Congressional districts were among the most outrageous examples of gerrymandering in the country. The Court has the ability and authority to invalidate the districts, but it does not have the authority to impose its own districts. This would represent a dangerous precedent and makes the judiciary a super-legislature. If the Supreme Court is successful in seizing the power it has just granted itself out of thin air, we have more significant problems than poorly drawn districts. From redistricting, it is only a short distance to the Courts writing and adopting a state budget if the General Assembly doesn’t get it done in time.

The General Assembly adopted awful Congressional districts six years ago. The problem should have been addressed then via the Constitutionally provided remedy. In the long term, significant redistricting reform is necessary, and that can be accomplished via legislation or changing the state constitution. The Supreme Court’s decision represents a threat to the separation of powers, and that shouldn’t be taken lightly by anyone.

Redistricting Ruling Blind Partisanship Not Blind Justice — The Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court two days ago (Jan. 22) ruled that Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts must be re-mapped by the legislature by Feb. 9 else it will do it itself.

The vote was on party lines with Democrats Todd, Donohue, Dougherty, and White concurring and Republicans Saylor and Mundy dissenting.

Democrat Max Baer concurred and dissented noting that it would be better if the order occurred without a primary being just months away, and a special election in the 18th District scheduled for March 13.

While the order specifically exempts the special election, Baer noted that voters in this district would be electing a representative in March in one district while nomination petitions would be circulating for a newly-drawn district, which may or may not include the current candidates for the special election. Again and respectfully, I find the likelihood for confusion, if not chaos, militates strongly against my colleagues’ admittedly admirable effort to correct the current map prior to the May 15, 2018 primary election.

And he is right. While we grant that there is egregious gerrymandering — and have been consistently critical as to how the 7th District was drawn — this was not the time to fix it.

What the court did was not blind justice but blind partisanship. While you can expect partisanship in a legislative body, you cannot have it in on a court.

Pennsylvania Obamacare Repeal Nays — A quarter of the House Republicans voting to save Obamacare come from Southeastern Pennsylvania.

You can guess the names of these profiles in hackery but we will list them anyway: Ryan Costello of the Chesco-centered 6th District; Pat Meehan of the Delco-centered 7th District, Brian Fitzpatrick of the Bucks-centered 8th District and Charlie Dent of the Lehigh County-centered 15th District.

What could these men have been thinking? Why of coasting on the easy road, of course. They listened to pressure groups paying for push polls. They bowed before political consultants — you know, the kind that President Trump notably ignores. They figured they’d follow that broad path to the wide gate of wealth and power rather than fight for what’s right.

They lacked the will — or perhaps, more charitably, the imagination — to articulate to those whom they represent why getting rid of these taxes and mandates will make their lives a lot, lot, lot better. They refused to go out and sell this repeal plan to their constituents just as they refused to sell President Trump’s candidacy last November. This is especially ironic as the passage of Obamacare was responsible for sending three of the four to Washington.

Among those found guilty with him was Herbert Vederman, a long-time Democrat man of influence who is still listed at ZoomInfo.com as senior consultant for the Government and Public Affairs Group at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, a Philadelphia law firm.

Val DiGiorgio

Think he knew Val DiGiorgio? Val is the Chester County Republican Party chairman who chairs Stradley Ronon’s banking and public finance sections and includes Government and Public Affairs as part of his “focus”.

Shuster Slammed In Open Letter — Bill Shuster, the congressman who has represented Pennsylvania’s 9th District since 2001, is in a Republican primary battle with businessman and retired Coast Guard helicopter pilot Art Halvorson.

There is a good chance that Shuster — who “inherited” the seat from his father, Bud, who had held it since 1973 — will lose.

That would be a good thing.

Monica Morrill of Stoystown, who was formerly a constituent of Shuster, explains why in this open letter she sent to Congressman Charles Dent (R), another Pennsylvanian who represents the state’s 15th District and who chairs the House Committee on Ethics.

Note that it is cc’d to Congressman Pat Meehan, (R-Pa7), who is also a member of the committee and whose district includes most of Delaware County.

Poor Congresspeople — We’ve all seen lists of the richest congresspeople, but there are some for the poorest among them as well.

Can there really be poor people in Congress? The congressional salary, after all, is $174,000 not including benefits.

“The 10 on our list have millions in debt among them — from business loans to credit cards to unpaid attorney fees related to an impeachment,” RollCall.com explains. The site notes, however, that determining “minimum net worth is an inexact science” and that several on the list have multiple homes and other assets not generally associated with the poor.

Roll Calls 10 poorest members of Congress in 2015 are:

Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) -$8.7 million

Rep. Alcee L Hastings (D-FL)-$2.2 million

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL)- $1.3 million

Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) -$1.3 million

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) -$907,000

Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX) -$896,000

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-M)-$813,000

Sen. Matin Heinrich (D-NM)-$723,000

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) -$713,000

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) -$700,000

Palmer Gibbs of InsideGov.com has also compiled a list of the poorest albeit with 25 names. Some are the same, some are not and the order and valuations are different. It contains explanations for Valado’s and Hastings’ problems — namely Valado’s family dairy farm debt and Hastings 1988 bribery impeachment as a federal judge — who again hold the the first and second places.

While Fattah is the only Philly area rep that Roll Call lists, InsideGov omits him but includes Chester County’s Rep. Ryan Costello (R-6) in 11th place with a worth of -$47,944 and Philadelphia’s Brendan Boyle (D-13) in 17th with a worth of -$24,997.

Halvorson took Shuster on in 2014 Republican race getting 35 percent of the vote to Shuster’s 53 percent. Also running was Travis Schooley who got 13 percent.

Former GOP U.S. Senate candidate Tom Smith had expressed interest in a primary challenge to Shuster but had to drop out due to health reasons. Halvorson, who was backing Smith this go around, said he would step in for another shot. He is dedicating this race to Smith says PoltiticsPa.

Shuster is embroiled in a scandal, namely he was caught dating an airline lobbyist last April. Shuster chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Shuster replaced his father, Bud, in a special election in May 2001. Bud Shuster has represented the district since 1973.

“Too few have had power for too long,” he says. “I have great friendships and working relationships with many of my colleagues here in D.C. but a common thread among many of them is they have been here too long and not enough has changed for the better; it has gotten worse.”

USA Today ran a column by Grove City College professor Paul Kengor on Oct. 29 describing how the GOP-congress actually did manage to cut spending — and for two straight years.

Kengor says he was inspired to write it after hearing Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Pa18) make the claim during a stump speech. He was skeptical of it so he checked it and, lo and behold, found it to be true.

Spending dropped from $3.6 trillion in 2011 to $3.54 trillion in 2012 to $3.45 trillion in 2013.

It was the first time spending was cut in consecutive years since 1953-55.

The deficit has been cut to $500 billion which is less than half of what it was when the Democrats controlled everything in 2010, says Kengor.